COORDINATION IN PLANTS

Animals have a nervous system for controlling and coordinating the activities of the body. But plants have neither a nervous system nor muscles. So, how do they respond to stimuli? When we touch the leaves of a chhui-mui (the ‘sensitive’ or ‘touch-me-not’ plant of the Mimosa family), they begin to fold up and droop. When a seed germinates, the root goes down, the stem comes up into the air. What happens? Firstly, the leaves of the sensitive plant move very quickly in response to touch. There is no growth involved in this movement. On the other hand, the directional movement of a seedling is caused by growth. If it is prevented

from growing, it will not show any movement. So plants show two different types of movement – one dependent on growth and the other independent of growth.

Immediate Response to Stimulus

Let us think about the first kind of movement, such as that of the sensitive plant. Since no growth is involved, the plant must actually move its leaves in response to touch. But there is no nervous tissue, nor any muscle tissue. How does the plant detect the touch, and how do the leaves move in response?

If we think about where exactly the plant is touched, and what part of the plant actually moves, it is apparent that movement happens at a point different from the point of touch. So, information that a touch has occurred must be communicated. The plants also use electrical-chemical means to convey this information from cell to cell, but unlike in animals, there is no specialised tissue in plants for the conduction of information. Finally, again as in animals, some cells must change shape in order for movement to happen. Instead of the specialised proteins found in animal muscle cells, plant cells change shape by changing the amount of water in them, resulting in swelling or shrinking, and therefore in changing shapes.